An n-bit register can ordinarily only be used to count up to 2.sup.n -1. An 8 bit register can only be used to store counts up to 255 events.
It is often desirable to count a large number of events even though limited register bit storage is available. Small digital computers, for example, are frequently being used in process control where an experiment or process is monitored. Often many counts are performed simultaneously. This necessitates many counters and economy of construction for such computers suggests that the counters be as small as possible.
Prior art methods of counting each event requires that an estimate of the number of events to be counted be made, and counting capacity of each counter provided be made large enough to insure that the counter is never filled. A filled counter would indicate that the number of events exceeded the capacity of the counter and there would be no way to estimate the actual number of events which occurred.
In order to overcome these prior art difficulties the following are objects of this invention:
To provide a counter of n locations which can store a representation of a count of events greater than 2.sup.n -1, PA1 To provide means for estimating the actual number of events from the number stored in the counter.